據天然氣新聞2020年4月27日倫敦報道，赤道幾內亞（赤幾）礦業和碳氫化合物部長加布里埃爾·奧比昂·利馬27日表示，由于Covid-19疫情導致油價暴跌，赤幾將不得不暫停大部分即將啟動的上游項目。

奧比昂在一次新聞網絡研討會上表示：“由于疫情影響，勘探和鉆井作業將受到重大打擊。”“我們需要與一些石油公司一起回到會議桌前，重新考慮新的戰略，因此我們將不得不暫停一些項目。”

隨著布倫特原油價格跌至20美元/桶以下，油價已跌至21年來的最低水平，這給這個位于幾內亞灣的非洲產油國造成了相當大的不穩定。

疫情傳播使情況更加惡化，使石油需求消失，也阻礙了該國石油和天然氣部門的幾個上游和勘探項目。

這個歐佩克最小的產油國急于重振上游活動，阻止其成熟油田的石油產量下降。

奧比昂說，一些關鍵上游項目的最終決定可能會在未來幾周內做出，并補充說，與勘探和鉆井相比，赤幾今年的研發將更加重要。

李峻 編譯自 天然氣新聞

原文如下：

Equatorial Guinea to delay oil, gas projects over price collapse

Equatorial Guinea will have to put the bulk of its upcoming upstream projects on hold due to the oil price collapse from the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's minister of mines and hydrocarbons said Monday.

"Exploration and drilling work will take a big hit because of this pandemic," Gabriel Obiang Lima said on a press webinar. "We need to go back to the drawing room with some of the oil companies, and rethink a new strategy as we will have to put some projects on hold."

Oil prices have fallen to their lowest in over 21 years with ICE Brent dipping below $20/b and this is causing considerable instability for African oil producers in the Gulf of Guinea.

The spread of the virus has exacerbated the situation, obliterating oil demand, but it has also impeded several upstream and exploration projects in the oil and gas sector.

OPEC's smallest producer is desperate to reinvigorate upstream activity and stem a decline in oil output from its maturing fields.

A final decision of some of the key upstream projects is likely to be taken in the next few weeks, he said adding that research and development will be more important this year compared to exploration and drilling.